V. S. Kemanis

Biography

"Kemanis is a writer of substance" (The U.S. Review of Books); "unarguably gifted…a great talent" (SP Reviews); "an excellent writer" (Mystery Scene Magazine).

V.S. Kemanis has enjoyed a varied career in the law and the arts. As an attorney, she has been a criminal prosecutor of street crime and organized crime, has argued criminal appeals for the prosecution and defense, conducted complex civil litigation, and worked for state appellate courts. Ms. Kemanis is also an accomplished dancer of classical and contemporary styles and has performed, taught, and choreographed in California, Colorado, and New York. Ms. Kemanis has published five collections of short fiction on wide-ranging themes, and her stories have appeared in literary journals and magazines including Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and The Crooked Road, Vol. 3. Novels in the Dana Hargrove legal mystery series draw on her personal experience in criminal law. Ms. Kemanis is a member of the Mystery Writers of America.

For fans of literary short fiction, Your Pick is the ideal introduction to the works of V.S. Kemanis. Carefully selected from the author’s four collections, the dozen stories in this volume are reader favorites. These are the stories that have resonated deepest, bringing tears and smiles, wonder and discovery. “Kemanis knows how to build a story and keep it going” (Foreword Reviews).

Cyberbullying and a raft of teen crime challenge newly-elected District Attorney Dana Hargrove. In Deep Zero, the fourth standalone legal suspense novel of the series, Dana walks the tightrope like never before in her tricky balance between professional ethics and family loyalties.

Loves big and small, crimes forgiven or avenged. These are the themes that drive the eleven diverse stories in this new collection of psychological suspense from award-winning storyteller V.S. Kemanis. While the endings to these tales are not always sweet or predictable, and self-deception is rarely rewarded, the lessons come down hard and are well learned.

A renowned fashion designer is murdered in his posh Upper East Side townhome, setting off a scurrilous media campaign against prosecutor Dana Hargrove in the third standalone legal mystery of the series. Dana confronts the greatest challenge yet to her professional integrity as she fights to protect her good name and the sanctity of her family life against the threat of a criminal scheme.

Talented prosecutor Dana Hargrove belongs to an elite cadre on the “homicide chart,” a 24/7 rotation of on-call responders to murder scenes. In the midst of an exhausting week of courtroom battles, Dana pulls graveyard shift on the chart and receives a call in the middle of the night, plunging her into a new murder investigation that hits dangerously close to home.

Plunge into a day in the life of rookie prosecutor Dana Hargrove, central character in the legal thrillers Thursday's List, Homicide Chart, Forsaken Oath, and Deep Zero. This is the story that introduced her to the world!

Commended--SPR Awards 2014
Family. Inescapable, universal, defining. Whether near or far, family can evoke feelings of love or resentment, trust or regret--never indifference. In this award-winning collection of sixteen insightful tales, V.S. Kemanis explores the mysterious depths of human emotion, all the heartbreak and joy of families in conflict and harmony.

Tempting little wrongs, moral dilemmas, subconscious desires. Blinded by self-deception, even the best of us are led astray. In these fourteen stories, you'll encounter familiar misdemeanants from every walk of life and their unwitting—or complicit—victims.

Rookie prosecutor Dana Hargrove is the junior member of a team investigating money laundering by a Colombian narcotics cartel when she stumbles upon alarming evidence suggesting the complicity of close friends. As the investigation unravels, Dana and her friends are thrust into a living nightmare of cartel greed, blood, and retribution.